[Brookie]

Blunts looked better than they did last year but ffs wait until we?ve played a minimum of 10 meaningful games until we get a feeling for how the team is

[hilly81]

It?s normally at least August before the wrist slitting starts. Fair play.

[hilly81]

Hibbo98, on 20 July 2024 - 05:23 PM, said:

Madden and Sheckleford the main ones today. Gordon and Palmer limped off too but DT saying not serious. Adding to Grimes in the week

Sounds like Madden might be a bad one

[dtp]

Town_Fan, on 20 July 2024 - 03:51 PM, said:

Abysmal. Carrying on the woeful performances we finished the season with last year.

Being completely outplayed by a bunch of kids. Cook has no idea how to change anything, his style either works or it doesn't and there is no plan b.


Doest help the club gas sanctioned the signings of past it pensioners. No pace anywhere in this side.

Strangely, in the 2 friendly games I have attended, Cook has changed to 3 at the back and used different personnel in that formation.

Both against Forest and the Blunts, Palmer has played LCB and done ok which suggests to me that we do not need another CB. I quite liked the trialist RB but if we bring him in it will take take us to a 23 man squad so someone will need to be moved out. Neither Akinola nor Drumond have had many minutes so they are possibly not destined to be in the 18 man squad early season. All in all, it remains to be seen as to which players start against Swindon before we can comment on the team itself.

[Cum on u blues]

I followed the match on 1866 and only just checked into the comments. I have to admit there seems to be a big gap between what PT & co reported compared to the generally negative comments on the forum so can?t really comment on the game today.

What is striking though in all games so far is the lack of clear cut chances going forward. 1866 talked about a change in tactics, ie putting the ball over the top like we were so vulnerable with defensively last year but none of the attacking options used today have the speed or skill to take advantage of this unless we take a chance and use Drummond in the rest of the pre-season matches. Noticeably Berry was only brought on 10m from the end which is disappointing imo and for the player it doesn?t fill him with confidence for a player who needs it despite his qualities.

As far as I can see so far Grigg has been completely out of the picture in all the matches so far - where does he fit in this year ?

It smacks of not knowing how we shape up when Swindon come to town. I know I?ll probably take some swipes again but how can you start a new season in such disarray ?

Like I said elsewhere it looks like we?ll just be holding our own this season despite all the investment on and off the field.

On a related matter we were lucky with the lack of injuries last year but already it doesn?t look very positive for a full and fit squad by the 7th of August.

Lots of work to do by our overloaded coaching team and management to get the club back on track asap.

I expect they?re aware of this as it doesn?t bode well for the kick-off so far against Swindon

[stainlessstephen]

In this thread, I saw the words "fart" and "gas". I know Sheff Utd were in town, but there was that awful stink that kept wafting across the South Stand...

[Fit as a Nelson]

Cum on u blues, on 20 July 2024 - 06:03 PM, said:

I followed the match on 1866 and only just checked into the comments. I have to admit there seems to be a big gap between what PT & co reported compared to the generally negative comments on the forum so can?t really comment on the game today.

What is striking though in all games so far is the lack of clear cut chances going forward. 1866 talked about a change in tactics, ie putting the ball over the top like we were so vulnerable with defensively last year but none of the attacking options used today have the speed or skill to take advantage of this unless we take a chance and use Drummond in the rest of the pre-season matches. Noticeably Berry was only brought on 10m from the end which is disappointing imo and for the player it doesn?t fill him with confidence for a player who needs it despite his qualities.

As far as I can see so far Grigg has been completely out of the picture in all the matches so far - where does he fit in this year ?

It smacks of not knowing how we shape up when Swindon come to town. I know I?ll probably take some swipes again but how can you start a new season in such disarray ?

Like I said elsewhere it looks like we?ll just be holding our own this season despite all the investment on and off the field.

On a related matter we were lucky with the lack of injuries last year but already it doesn?t look very positive for a full and fit squad by the 7th of August.

Lots of work to do by our overloaded coaching team and management to get the club back on track asap.

I expect they?re aware of this as it doesn?t bode well for the kick-off so far against Swindon

If brains were dynamite you couldn’t blow your hat off

This post has been edited by Fit as a Nelson: 20 July 2024 - 06:20 PM

[danblue]

Cum on u blues, on 20 July 2024 - 06:03 PM, said:

I followed the match on 1866 and only just checked into the comments. I have to admit there seems to be a big gap between what PT & co reported compared to the generally negative comments on the forum so can?t really comment on the game today.

What is striking though in all games so far is the lack of clear cut chances going forward. 1866 talked about a change in tactics, ie putting the ball over the top like we were so vulnerable with defensively last year but none of the attacking options used today have the speed or skill to take advantage of this unless we take a chance and use Drummond in the rest of the pre-season matches. Noticeably Berry was only brought on 10m from the end which is disappointing imo and for the player it doesn?t fill him with confidence for a player who needs it despite his qualities.

As far as I can see so far Grigg has been completely out of the picture in all the matches so far - where does he fit in this year ?

It smacks of not knowing how we shape up when Swindon come to town. I know I?ll probably take some swipes again but how can you start a new season in such disarray ?

Like I said elsewhere it looks like we?ll just be holding our own this season despite all the investment on and off the field.

On a related matter we were lucky with the lack of injuries last year but already it doesn?t look very positive for a full and fit squad by the 7th of August.

Lots of work to do by our overloaded coaching team and management to get the club back on track asap.

I expect they?re aware of this as it doesn?t bode well for the kick-off so far against Swindon

I can't think of a single positive out of that game.
As nightmare games go, that looked pretty scary.
Injuries piling up
Shipping goals
No goals scored
No pace

[Spireiteranger]

Cum on u blues, on 20 July 2024 - 06:03 PM, said:

I followed the match on 1866 and only just checked into the comments. I have to admit there seems to be a big gap between what PT & co reported compared to the generally negative comments on the forum so can?t really comment on the game today.

What is striking though in all games so far is the lack of clear cut chances going forward. 1866 talked about a change in tactics, ie putting the ball over the top like we were so vulnerable with defensively last year but none of the attacking options used today have the speed or skill to take advantage of this unless we take a chance and use Drummond in the rest of the pre-season matches. Noticeably Berry was only brought on 10m from the end which is disappointing imo and for the player it doesn?t fill him with confidence for a player who needs it despite his qualities.

As far as I can see so far Grigg has been completely out of the picture in all the matches so far - where does he fit in this year ?

It smacks of not knowing how we shape up when Swindon come to town. I know I?ll probably take some swipes again but how can you start a new season in such disarray ?

Like I said elsewhere it looks like we?ll just be holding our own this season despite all the investment on and off the field.

On a related matter we were lucky with the lack of injuries last year but already it doesn?t look very positive for a full and fit squad by the 7th of August.

Lots of work to do by our overloaded coaching team and management to get the club back on track asap.

I expect they?re aware of this as it doesn?t bode well for the kick-off so far against Swindon

I stopped reading after the first sentence. If you didn?t go or stream you don?t know??.why would anyone listen to the radio and then come on forums like this and criticise?..I don?t get it

[Cum on u blues]

Spireiteranger said:

1721500954[/url]' post='[url="tel:<a href="tel:1830001">1830001</a>"]1830001[/url]']
I stopped reading after the first sentence. If you didn?t go or stream you don?t know??.why would anyone listen to the radio and then come on forums like this and criticise?..I don?t get it

The results say it all despite my measured comments. If you want to criticise me, please give some concrete examples. As I said according to the 1866 commentary (despite the shortcomings) we can come to certain conclusions and these are apparent over all the preseason games whatever the quality of the opposition.<div>I’d be pleased to hear some positives from your side rather than just criticise me</div>

This post has been edited by Cum on u blues: 20 July 2024 - 06:50 PM

[Spireiteranger]

Cum on u blues, on 20 July 2024 - 06:45 PM, said:

The results say it all despite my measured comments?

Measured?
What are you measuring them against? Your normal comments?.?

[dtp]

fishini, on 20 July 2024 - 04:15 PM, said:

I can't understand why we have gone for training/friendly matches against teams so far up the pyramid other than the for money

Being a benefit game for Jim Brown can the Club be accused of going for the money in this one.

Other than that, we will have played Forest and the Rams. Both attractive opposition and games which have and will get quite well supported so, yes, the money will help towards the costs. Personally, I think it is better to play better teams as they normally will expose our deficiencies. If we play all our friendly games against lower level opposition we probably learn less and our players go into cruise control.

This post has been edited by dtp: 20 July 2024 - 06:56 PM

[Blue5]

According to some on here, last week we were going to walk division 2 and now this week we will do well to avoid relegation by Christmas. Is being able to form a sensible opinion beyond some supporters or are they simply posting tripe just to get a reaction and look like absolute twits?

One member on here is already stamping his/her feet because we might not finish in the top 10!

I'm starting to think that either medical issues or some sort of substance misuse are impacting on the quality of this board.

This post has been edited by Blue5: 20 July 2024 - 06:57 PM

[Cum on u blues]

Spireiteranger said:

1721501233[/url]' post='1830003']
Measured?
What are you measuring them against? Your normal comments?.?

Please reply with a well-founded argument against what I say for a start. I?m not looking for a fight but so far none of the comments against what I say are justified with facts

[Fact Checker]

Cum on u blues, on 20 July 2024 - 06:54 PM, said:

Please reply with a well-founded argument against what I say for a start. I?m not looking for a fight but so far none of the comments against what I say are justified with facts

Ironic, seeing as we?re still waiting for the facts behind your claim that we?ve spent more than the rest of the division. Also your claim that our management team is more bloated than the competition - please justify with facts. Many thanks.

[OneDecentLester]

This thread is hilarious to read. Some of you lot really need to go outside more and find some things to be positive about.

This squad & this manager have just got us back to the FL after 6 years of hell in non league football, and after a couple of losses against a PREMIER LEAGUE side and a Championship team who were playing PL football last year, we?re now in a crisis? If you can?t be positive about things at the moment then I?m afraid you?re a lost cause.

They are friendly games? they mean the absolute square root of fuck all other than fitness, match sharpness & a little bit of experimenting here and there (see the 3-5-2 that Cooks clearly looking at using as an alternative plan B at times next year to our 4-2-3-1 to make us more adaptable). I mean, it?s often poor performances (which it really wasn?t today, we more than matched them for large parts) / defeats that are actually more beneficial in pre season than wins are as management can pick up on potential issues early doors before the season actually starts. Try looking at the positives more and you?ll feel a bit better about yourself I promise you.

Come 9th August, Cook will have us fully prepared and ready to go again, and that?s all that matters.

This post has been edited by OneDecentLester: 20 July 2024 - 08:08 PM

[Spireiteranger]

OneDecentLester, on 20 July 2024 - 07:56 PM, said:

This thread is hilarious to read. Some of you lot really need to go outside more and find some things to be positive about.

This squad & this manager have just got us back to the FL after 6 years of hell in non league football, and after a couple of losses against a PREMIER LEAGUE side and a Championship team who were playing PL football last year, we?re now in a crisis? If you can?t be positive about things at the moment then I?m afraid you?re a lost cause.

They are friendly games? they mean the absolute square root of fuck all other than fitness, match sharpness & a little bit of experimenting here and there (see the 3-5-2 that Cooks clearly looking at using as an alternative plan B at times next year to our 4-2-3-1 to make us more adaptable). I mean, it?s often poor performances (which it really wasn?t today, we more than matched them for large parts) / defeats that are actually more beneficial in pre season than wins are as management can pick up on potential issues early doors before the season actually starts. Try looking at the positives more and you?ll feel a bit better about yourself I promise you.

Come 10th August, Cook will have us fully prepared and ready to go again, and that?s all that matters.

You do realise that measured comments, based in fact and what?s actually happened are not welcome here don?t you. Maybe start your next post with a scathing attack on a player that?s done ok

[born in 1866]

OneDecentLester, on 20 July 2024 - 07:56 PM, said:

Come 10th August, Cook will have us fully prepared and ready to go again, and that?s all that matters.

I hope he's got us prepared by the 9th

[spireitetoo]

1 thing from today again proved how lucky we are to still have mandy at the club, he's the only player we gave that looks comfortable with championship players against him, always available, always finds little pockets of space and rarely gives the ball away.

[Town_Fan]

OneDecentLester, on 20 July 2024 - 07:56 PM, said:

This thread is hilarious to read. Some of you lot really need to go outside more and find some things to be positive about.

This squad & this manager have just got us back to the FL after 6 years of hell in non league football, and after a couple of losses against a PREMIER LEAGUE side and a Championship team who were playing PL football last year, we?re now in a crisis? If you can?t be positive about things at the moment then I?m afraid you?re a lost cause.

They are friendly games? they mean the absolute square root of fuck all other than fitness, match sharpness & a little bit of experimenting here and there (see the 3-5-2 that Cooks clearly looking at using as an alternative plan B at times next year to our 4-2-3-1 to make us more adaptable). I mean, it?s often poor performances (which it really wasn?t today, we more than matched them for large parts) / defeats that are actually more beneficial in pre season than wins are as management can pick up on potential issues early doors before the season actually starts. Try looking at the positives more and you?ll feel a bit better about yourself I promise you.

Come 9th August, Cook will have us fully prepared and ready to go again, and that?s all that matters.

Normally I would agree but our form at the end of last season was horrific, we looked liked we had been found out. Add to that we played a Under 23 side and we looked awful.

I hope you are correct but our aging players are already picking up injuries and they are on a a fortune. We also have a squad half full of players not good enough for this league.